EVENT: The UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public will host a two-day conference on “The Future of the Future: The Ethics and Implications of AI.” Keynote speaker Bruce Sterling, an award-winning science fiction author, and an interdisciplinary and international panel of writers, academics and communicators will tackle an advance in technology that touches our everyday lives: artificial intelligence.

WHEN/WHERE:  Friday, Feb. 21, in the Crystal Cove Auditorium at UCI’s Student Center (bldg. 113, grid D5 on campus map: https://parking.uci.edu/maps/documents/2020-UCI-MainCampusMap.pdf  and Saturday, Feb. 22, in Humanities Gateway 1800 (bldg. 611, grid D4 on campus map)

INFORMATION: All events are free and open to the public, but please RSVP here. Visitor parking is available in the Student Center Parking Structure (grid D5 on campus map) and in the Mesa Parking Structure (grid D3 on campus map) for $13 per day or $2 per hour. Media planning to attend should contact Pat Harriman at 949-824-9055 or pharrima@uci.edu. 

HIGHLIGHTS: 

Friday, Feb. 21 – UCI Student Center 

3:30 p.m. Welcome and opening remarks by L. Song Richardson, dean of UCI’s School of Law, plus a keynote address by Bruce Sterling, author of The Difference Engine and The Hacker Crackdown, professor of new media and science fiction at The European Graduate School, and winner of the Hugo Award, Arthur C. Clarke Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award

5:30 p.m. Panel discussion on “The Future of the Future: The Ethics and Implications of AI,” moderated by Jeffrey Wasserstrom, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of history, and featuring Sterling; Michele Goodwin, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of law; Paul Dourish, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of informatics; and Kate Klonick, assistant professor of law at St. John’s University School of Law

Saturday, Feb. 22 – Humanities Gateway 1030

9:30 a.m. Breakfast

10 a.m. Talk on “Controlling the AI Genii: Surveillance and Disruption,” featuring Kavita Philip, UCI associate professor of history; Neil Sahota, an IBM master inventor, author of Own the A.I. Revolution and lecturer at UCI’s Paul Merage School of Business; Darren Byler, anthropology lecturer at the University of Washington; Lucy Suchman, professor of anthropology of science and technology at England’s Lancaster University; and Geoff Bowker, UCI Chancellor’s Professor of informatics

11:30 a.m. Lunch

12 p.m. Conversation on “Tell Me Something I Don’t Know: Eyes in the Skies, Money for Nothing, Algorithms as Artists and Other Conundrums of the AI Future,” featuring Cory Doctorow, author of Little Brother, blogger, co-editor of Boing Boing and winner of the Prometheus Award, Sunburst Award and John W. Campbell Memorial Award; and Rose Eveleth, host of “Flash Forward,” named a best podcast by Wired magazine and The New York Times

1:30 p.m. Talk on “AI and Democracy: Bots, Trolls, Phishers and the Hacking of the Vote,” featuring David Kaye, UCI clinical professor of law, U.N. special rapporteur on freedom of expression and author of Speech Police; journalist Noam Cohen, Wired magazine columnist; Rebecca MacKinnon, director of Ranking Digital Rights; journalist Misha Glenny; and Malavika Jayaram, inaugural executive director of Harvard University’s Digital Asia Hub

3:30 p.m. Discussion on “Creativity and Work in the Age of AI,” moderated by Erika Hayasaki, UCI associate professor of literary journalism and a leader in digital narratives studies, and featuring Tom Boellstorff, UCI professor of anthropology; An Xiao Mina, affiliate researcher at Harvard University’s Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society; Lilly Irani, associate professor of communication and science studies at UC San Diego; and German digital and virtual artist Louisa Clement 

BACKGROUND:  The UCI Forum for the Academy and the Public is a collaborative project of the literary journalism program, the School of Humanities and the School of Law that bridges the university and the public via conferences and pop-ups that take on the most pressing issues of our time.

Led by professors Amy Wilentz and Jeffrey Wasserstrom and international in scope, the forum has addressed such topics as climate change, freedom of expression, justice and incarceration, and the future of the democratic ideal. For a full schedule of events, visit https://sites.uci.edu/aiethics/schedule. Using social media? Follow and use the hashtag #UCIForumAI.

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